The hair styling tool used in connection with the hair pin of the present invention is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,870. The hair styling tool of U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,870 has achieved commercial success because it allows a user to create an attractive hairstyle in a minimum amount of time and it eliminates the need for expensive professional hairstyling. Specifically, the user forms a ponytail and binds the ponytail with a hair-binding element, such as an elastic or rubber band. Then, with a few easy motions and the assistance of the hair styling tool, the user can easily invert the ponytail to create an attractive and stable hairstyle. The hairstyle is self-holding and requires little or no hair spray or other hair-holding applications.
The hair styling tool and hairstyle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,870 has become popular because the resulting hairstyle is attractive, fast and easy. People from all walks of life enjoy the hairstyle because it takes little or no time to prepare and the hairstyle maintains its position for an extended period of time. People with straight hair find that the hairstyle provided by the hair styling tool takes less time to prepare on a daily basis than many permed hairdos. Further, many people are finding that the inverted ponytail hairstyle and the hair styling tool obviate the need for permanents which can be very expensive. The inverted ponytail hairstyle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,870 has become known as a TOPSYTAIL hairstyle.
One problem not addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,870 is how to adorn a TOPSYTAIL hairstyle with an ornamental hair pin that will maintain its position for as long as the inverted ponytail hairstyle. Specifically, only hair pins shaped like combs, barrettes or hair pins with a spring biased pin mechanism are provided in the prior art. No hair pin taught by the prior art provides a means for securely affixing the hair pin to the hair binding element, or elastic band, used to create the original ponytail of the hairstyle discussed above. The present invention addresses this problem and provides a hair pin that securely affixes to the elastic band used to create the original ponytail of a TOPSYTAIL hairstyle and thereby provides the user with an opportunity to further adorn this attractive hairstyle with an ornamental hair pin that will stay in place as long as a TOPSYTAIL hairstyle or other hairstyle employing an elastic band or other hair binding element.